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CareOregon has awarded $275,000 in community grants to 13 nonprofit organizations across the Portland metro region to fill critical gaps in social health, including food access, housing and more.

Partnering with our community means identifying needs and working together to address them," said Shawn DeCarlo, CareOregon Director of Community Impact. "Our community partners play a crucial role in delivering health care that meets the needs of those we serve, such as providing food and nutrition access to low-income communities or expanding transitional housing services to individuals experiencing houselessness. All these organizations serve our community in very important and necessary ways, and we’re proud to partner with them to make it happen.”

Oregon Walks

Among the grants awarded, CareOregon invested $10,000 to Oregon Walks to support its March to the Market program, which promotes walkable access to fresh foods for low-income residents. This program encourages locals to walk to their local farmers markets and provides them with food tokens for vegetables, fruits and other fresh foods. It also introduces them to SNAP, WIC, and Senior Farm Direct matching programs to remove financial barriers and support local vendors.

Oregon Walks is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting walking as a safe, accessible and equitable mode of transportation and recreation. In East Multnomah County, where BIPOC, immigrant and low-income communities are heavily represented, Oregon Walks focuses its programming with a commitment to equity and inclusion. The organization advocates for proper infrastructure such as sidewalks, crosswalks and lighting to ensure safe walking routes, recognizing the link between walking and both physical and mental health.

Recovery Café Roseway

CareOregon also awarded a $10,000 grant to Recovery Cafe Roseway to provide expanded meal service to clients over the coming year, including additional food and supplies for individuals in recovery. This funding will support the cafe's efforts to expand its operational hours and increase meal services, ensuring more accessibility for members.

The grant will cover food, coffee and supplies for a year, free of charge, to program participants.

“We are so grateful for CareOregon's commitment to our work of serving people in recovery,” said Joan Miller, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Recovery Café Roseway. “By providing funds for our food budget, CareOregon is supporting one of the essential components of creating community—eating together. Eating together helps create connections among people that support long-term recovery. Every day we're open we provide at least one hot meal, and a second meal if desired, for all our members and guests, and CareOregon's support is greatly appreciated.”

Recovery Café Roseway is one of 66 cafés across the United States and Canada  that comprise the Recovery Café Network. Recovery Cafés are safe places for people in recovery to connect. They offer meals, coffee, community, classes, yoga, support groups and more. 

Grant recipients:

Food access

• Community Development Corporation of Oregon ($25,000): The funding will help provide free monthly pantry access and cooking demos to 75% OHP beneficiaries. Funding will also help cover Community Health Workers’ salaries and other costs.
• Growing Gardens ($25,000): Funding will go toward training and supporting Community Health Workers in nutrition, food access and other health-related needs of program participants.
• Lift Urban Portland ($25,000): The grant will provide funding to support food boxes, emergency food closets and more. 
• Our Village Gardens ($20,000): Funding will help expand the Neighbor-2-Neighbor vegetable share, which provides free, locally grown produce to 30+ New Columbia households weekly during the growing season. 
• SnowCap Community Charities ($25,000): The funding will help support an additional 3-5 days' worth of nutritious food a month for each family.
• Recovery Café Roseway ($10,000): Funding will help provide 10,000 meals to individuals in recovery, including additional food and supplies, for the coming year.
• Oregon Walks ($10,000): Funding will help Oregon Walks start a walking program to support low income and communities of color gain access to fresh quality food.

Housing

• Catholic Charities of Oregon ($25,000): Funds will help 50-55 homeless women obtain housing through Kenton Women’s Village transitional housing and shared permanent housing.
• HomePlate Youth Services ($25,000): The grant will support a drop-in center serving youth experiencing homelessness by offering access to stabilizing resources, employment, education, health care and housing navigation.
• Union Gospel Mission ($15,000): The grant will help sustain the Search + Rescue program, providing support and outreach to individuals experiencing homelessness in Portland. 

 Other social supports

• Family Justice Center of Washington County ($25,000): Funding will support essential services through the organization’s Family Assistance Program, including childcare, basic needs supplies and financial assistance to help survivors get to safety.
• The Pathfinder Network ($20,000): Funding will support basic needs such as food, clothing, transportation and supplies.
• Store to Door ($25,000): Funds will be used to support a project to expand social support services for low-income, homebound seniors. This project will screen 700+ homebound seniors for need and make closed-loop referrals to partner organizations. Funds will cover program expansion, including staff training and internal assessment.